


Wordless

by anemic_cinema



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nonverbal Communication, Tenderness, alternate universe-no walkers, domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 13:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5542067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anemic_cinema/pseuds/anemic_cinema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick's pain over the suffering of others inspires unusual tenderness in Shane. Prompted by a commenter named Biscuit, asking for a story about a sensitive Rick and Shane trying to comfort him. I hope this is close to what you were thinking of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wordless

The house looked ordinary. Something built in the sixties along with all the other houses lining the street. Shane examined the surroundings from the vantage point of the front seat of the cruiser. Big trees in the yards, some of them magnolia, their leaves providing ample shade in the early summer heat. He watched as they passed a group of kids playing basketball on the pavement. They paused and backed away to the curb, watching back. He waved at them and they waved back. 

“I'll take the lead.” Rick said, parking the cruiser in front of their destination. Neighbor had placed the call. Said that his next door neighbor was, in his words, “beating the hell out of his wife again.” Those were the worst to check up on. 04-3: Aggravated Assault On Spouse. They usually didn't end up typing those words up. The spouse in question rarely pressed charges. 

Shane sighed heavily as they walked up the concrete walkway to the front door. This wasn't the first time they'd been called, and he had a pretty good idea how it would play out. He had a feeling that Rick knew the scenario by heart too, but his friend always had been so hopeful, and so ready to believe the best about people. 

Rick rang the doorbell. The sound had barely finished when the door opened. It was the wife. She was petite, with close cropped graying hair. There were no visible bruises, but Shane noticed how she was favoring her right leg as she stood in the doorway, and how one of her arms was very still. 

“Hello officers.” She smiled. Shane had to give it to her. She almost made the expression look natural. “I'm sorry y'all had to come out, there's been a terrible misunderstanding.” She was talking like she'd rehearsed the line, saying them very carefully, not too fast, but not too slow. 

“We got a call regarding your husband-” Rick started, his face open and sympathetic. Shane knew the expression. His friend always used it when talking to battered wives. He tried to make them comfortable, like they could tell him the actual truth.

“If it's about the yelling, like I said, it's all just a misunderstanding.” She was maintaining eye contact with the both of them, switching back and forth. Her eyes looked clear and around her eyes there was no redness or signs of crying. Shane focused on the area around her eyes. He could see hints of concealer, hastily blended to hide any incriminating signs. She was a pro a this, obvious. 

“You see, he was yelling at the tv, he was watching one of those political talk shows.” She laughed, and Shane hand clenched involuntarily. “I don't know why he does it, they always rile him up so.” There was movement behind the woman. There was a hallway leading from the front door leading to the living room, and Rick broke off his gaze to look past the woman. Shane followed his gaze and saw her. A little girl, no more than ten, standing in the hallway like a ghost. Her arms hung at her sides and her eyes were full of fear. The woman turned around, and for a second, the facade she was maintaining for their sake broke. 

“Sophia, go to your room.” 

The little girl obeyed, but glanced back at them. Shane wondered what the husband had told the daughter to make it so she wouldn't say anything. Had he told her that if she did, she would go to jail along with him and mommy? That she would be taken away to live with evil strangers? That if she told he'd kill her and mommy? Shane tasted bitterness on the back of his tongue and his jaw tightened. He effectively zoned out as Rick went through the questions they were supposed to ask, and the woman told them the answers she knew she was supposed to say. Just all a big misunderstanding, more apologies, no her husband was out, yes he'd call them as soon as he got home. Shane wasn't sure why they even bothered. The woman would never betray the man she loved, and the man she loved would never stop beating her. But that kid...

The drive away from the house was as silent as before, but now a heaviness hung over them. Rick looked defeated. At the stop sign at the end of the street, he rubbed his eyes.

“You wanna take the paperwork on this one?” He asked Shane, not looking at him. 

“Sure.” Shane answered. He looked out the window. The kids playing basketball were gone. 

*

As they left the station that evening, Rick casually asked Shane if he wanted to come over for a beer. It sounded natural enough to anyone within earshot. It would make sense that a recently divorced man would ask his best friend over for beer. Except that Shane knew the real question behind the one Rick said out loud. 

Sure, they did end up drinking beer in front of the TV, half-heartedly watching a baseball game. And yes, they did eat a rotisserie chicken Rick bought at the supermarket. But the answer to Rick's unspoken question came when Shane stretched out his legs under the kitchen table.

“Mind if I spend the night?”

Shane saw Rick smile as he scraped the chicken bones off of their plates. “Don't mind at all.” He placed the plates in the small sink, then reached into the fridge for two more cans of beer. “Wanna watch the news?”

Now that the real question had been answered, the space between them on the couch was smaller. Rick's right hand held the can of been on his thigh. The other one rested on the couch, casually touching the side of Shane's thigh. The other man shifted a little closer, making Rick move his hand onto Shane's knee. That was all the communication that happened between them usually. Shane placed his can of beer on the floor, and slid off the couch. He kneeled between the other man's legs, which spread for him immediately. 

“Let's see here.” Shane muttered, his hand sliding up Rick's leg to come to rest over his groin. He squeezed tentatively. Rick was still soft. He gently rocked the palm of his hand over the area, trying to get his friend hard. Normally it didn't take this much effort, but Shane wasn't fazed. He leaned in, mouthing at it. Rick moved into the touch with a grunt. 

Still nothing. 

Shane unzipped the seated man's pants and pulled the limp organ out from his briefs. It felt soft and warm in his mouth. The sensation wasn't the most pleasant, but Shane kept trying. 

Rick let out a frustrated sigh and pushed the other man back. “Never mind.”

“Hold on, lemme try-” Shane looked up at his friend and saw the pained expression on his face. “You ok?”

Rick didn't answer. He tucked himself back in his pants and got up. “I'm just tired is all.” He drained his beer and walked to the kitchen. Shane sat back down on the couch and listened to the noises of the fridge opening and the snap of the beer can tab. 

“I can go if you'd rather be alone.” He called out, annoyance edging into his voice.

“S'alright.” Rick emerged from the kitchen, staring at the can of Bud Light in his hand. “I'm just more tired than I thought.”

Shane rubbed his forehead, trying to ignore the fact that he was still a little hard and wanted nothing more than to have Rick on all fours. After the shitty day they'd just had, all that he wanted was to fuck until he couldn't think. 

They sat in silence, watching the news. Rick tentatively put an arm around his friend's shoulders, his hand resting on Shane's collarbone. Despite his frustration, Shane couldn't help leaning back into the touch. Rick's skin felt so warm against the back of his neck. Normally, they never got this tender, and when they did, they did it without words. Words led to questions, complications. The both of them needed what they had too badly to risk those sorts of things. Shane wiggled his hand between the couch and Rick's back, and pressed it against the other man's spine. It was a column of tense muscles.

No words were exchanged when Rick stood up and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Shane followed him, their movements automatic. They'd done this enough times for it to be like that. Shane knew he could use Rick's toothbrush, which pajama bottoms he could use out of the cheap dresser in the bedroom, and which side of the bed his friend favored. When they laid down, shifting and trying to situate themselves under the sheets, Shane turned to his side, looking at Rick. He still looked worn, like life at that moment has wrung him out to the point where all he could do was look up at the ceiling. 

“Turn over. Onto your side.” Shane whispered, as if the darkness of the bedroom couldn't stand words spoken at a normal volume.

Rick sighed. “I told you, I'm tired-”

“Not like that man, just...turn over.” Shane reached down over the comforter and squeezed Rick's hand. That was enough, and he did. Shane shifted closer to him, wrapping his arms around his friend, molding his body against the back of Rick's. With some arranging of pillows and changing positions of arms, the two finally settled down into the position Shane had wanted them to be in. 

It was an arrangement that was much more tender than Rick was used to from Shane. Shane could feel the tension in his friend gradually fade. He hoped it would be replace by some measure of comfort. Instead it was replaced by a kind of shaking that felt as if it was coming from the center of Rick's being. Shane felt the hitching of Rick's breath under the hand he had pressed against his chest, and the quiet, restrained sobs that escaped his friends mouth. 

Shane knew and understood why, and squeezed Rick tighter. He rested his face against the back of his friend's neck, and held him until the shaking, the hitching, and the sobs stopped. He held Rick until he was sure that all of it had turned to quiet breathing, then dozing, then sleep. Shane breathed in and exhaled slow, feeling the soft hairs on the back of Rick's neck move against his lips. There didn't need to be words between them about this.


End file.
